Is the Cheesecake Factory Good Value?

A deep dive into the biggest menu in America

We decided to analyze the Cheesecake Factory menu because of its universality, average food and huge menu size. In other words, if we can tackle every menu item at the Cheesecake Factory, we can do anything. 

Our experts at the OJM Value Desk have taken on the overwhelming task of converting the book-size menu into spreadsheet form. Below is an excerpt of our findings from the dessert menu. Call it an exercise in futility, but we think this is extremely important investigative work. And we don’t have anything better to do.

Cheesecake Factory dessert menu items

The secret to maximizing the Cheesecake Factory value experience is to understand raw calorie intake per dollar, which we define as V=C/D. In the future we will look more at comprehensive nutritional data, but for our first analysis we wanted to stick to V=C/D. 

As you can see below, only 14% of analyzed menu items achieve the coveted 100+ calories per dollar mark and not a single lunch item attained this value metric. However, almost every dessert cake item hits the mark. 

Important Notes: 

1. This data includes everything except for the Skinnylicious section as well as the Eggs & Omelettes section (don’t go to the Cheesecake Factory for breakfast) 

2. For some reason the prices and menu details are from Skokie, IL as of June, 2023

   1. New York prices are usually a little higher (big surprise), for example original cheesecake is $1.55 more ($8.95 to $10.50) and grilled salmon is $1.45 more ($24.50 to $25.95)

3. We assume that when given the option of fries, sweet potato fries, or a salad as a side, fries are the selected choice

4. Our computations don’t take into account the complimentary bread – a whopping 400 cal intake on the house. The bread isn’t bad either.

Finding the best item on the dessert menu

The best value item on the dessert menu is not cheesecake, it’s the…Chocolate Tower Truffle Cake. It’s $10.50 for 1770 calories (including whipped cream), which is 168.57 calories per dollar — the 3rd highest ranking on the entire menu. 

Chocolate Tower Truffle Cake

The Original Cheesecake is one of the worst dessert values: 830 calories for $8.95, or: 92.74 cals per dollar. 

Original Cheesecake

The absolute WORST dessert menu item is a bowl of fresh strawberries. 250 calories for $8.95, 27.93 cals per dollar. Do NOT buy your strawberries from The Cheesecake Factory, folks. 

Strawberries

Here’s a chart of all of the items on the dessert menu ranked by value: 

The Next Installment

Stay tuned for our analysis of the rest of the menu including some surprising findings and comparisons to other average restaurants. Don’t worry, we’re going to analyze Katz’s Deli soon and show you exactly why it’s bad value.